"Mr. Long, who is this?"
Koshiro's voice remained gentle, but the volume was subtly lowered.
The deliberately restrained tone concealed a wariness that only a master could detect.
Before Roy could introduce him, Roy stepped forward. Koshiro casually waved his hand, his tone light and cheerful:
"Hello, hello, I'm a friend of the dragon, just call me Roy."
Koshiro's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
Roy.
This name is familiar to anyone who has ever been to the New World on this vast ocean.
The Heavenly Emperor, the master of Beehive Island, who stole the Heavenly Gold, toyed with a Marine Admiral, and is a transcendent being who stands alongside Whitebeard Kaido as one of the Emperors of the Sea.
This powerful figure, whose mere presence could shake New World Four Blues, now stood before Koshiro, introducing himself with a nonchalant air, "Just call me Roy."
Koshiro took a deep breath, suppressing the thousand words swirling in his heart, bowed slightly to Roy, and spoke calmly.
"I've long admired your name."
"I was unaware that you have graced my humble abode with your presence. What brings you here?"
"It's nothing important."
Roy walked into the dojo courtyard with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding sword-training facilities.
"I stopped by the East Blue for a stroll, and since the Dragon was coming to Shimotsuki Village, I came along to take a look."
The dojo has a good foundation, but the way they practice swordsmanship is...
He pointed to the boys in the yard who were repeatedly practicing basic chopping motions in front of wooden stakes, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the doneness of a dish.
"Too mild."
Koshiro's eyebrow twitched again.
Roy.
Ryu quickly stepped in to smooth things over, patting Koshiro on the shoulder and giving him an apologetic look.
He was telling the truth.
The training this guy does on Hachinosu, just the warm-up alone could exhaust half the kids in your dojo."
Koshiro chuckled dryly, but his heart was still pounding.
He certainly knew Roy's strength—during the great war in Wano Country, families from Wano Country all had their own intelligence channels to varying degrees.
The reason the Shimotsuki Clan left Wano Country was ultimately because of the turmoil in the New World, which led them to choose to settle in the East Blue.
Even after so many years, for people of Shimotsuki Kozaburo's generation, the name Kaido remains an unhealed scar.
And Roy, Kaido's ally and a Sea Emperor who had also cooperated with Kaido, suddenly appearing here would make anyone think a lot.
"Please come in and have a seat."
Koshiro stepped aside to let Ryu and Roy into the dojo's reception room.
The reception room is not big, and the decoration is simple - a low table, a few futons, and a calligraphy painting with the word "" hanging on the wall. The brush strokes are sharp, which is completely different from Koushiro's gentle look.
Roy plopped down on the futon, picked up the tea that Koshiro had personally brewed, took a sip, and looked quite pleased with himself.
"Good tea."
He gave a compliment, then added insult to injury.
"It's much better than what the cooks on my ship make."
"That guy Tesoro always adds sugar to his tea, what a waste!"
Koshiro paused for half a second while holding the teapot, then casually poured Ryu a cup of tea.
He told himself that this important person just spoke like that, and he shouldn't take it to heart.
The dragon saw this, smiled, and shook its head.
He could understand Koshiro's nervousness.
Anyone would react this way if they found a very important person suddenly showing up at their door.
Koshiro in not immediately drawing his sword to drive the man away was already quite remarkable.
Just as the three were chatting casually, a clear reprimand suddenly came from the direction of the dojo's backyard, followed by a young man's defiant roar—
" Kuina! I haven't lost yet! Let's go again!"
Then came a horizontal sweep of a wooden sword, the dull thud of something hitting the ground, and the rising and falling laughter of a group of teenagers.
Roy raised an eyebrow.
His Observation Haki instantly spread out, clearly presenting the scene in the backyard to his senses.
A young girl stood on the stone slab of the courtyard, holding a wooden knife in her hand, the tip of the knife still in the finishing position after a sweeping motion.
The girl was of average height for her age, and the sleeves of her kendo uniform were rolled up to her elbows, revealing two slender but powerful arms.
On the stone slab in front of her, a boy with Moss Head hair was lying sprawled out, his wooden sword flying far from his hand and stuck in the mud not far away, the hilt still trembling slightly.
"The two thousand and first time."
The pink-haired girl sheathed her wooden sword, her tone as calm as if she were counting how many rice balls she had eaten that day.
" Zoro, your basic stance still has the same problem—you push off with your left leg too early and retract your right arm too slowly. Didn't I tell you this eight hundred years ago?"
The Moss Head leaped to his feet, his face full of defiance, rubbing his sore back as he roared:
"Who said that! I clearly changed it!"
"Changed?"
Kuina tilted her head and pointed with her wooden sword at the boy's left foot.
"So, with that last stab, your left foot stepped forward three centimeters too far."
The Moss Head looked down at her feet, then at Kuina, opened her mouth to refute, but found that she couldn't find any point to refute.
After struggling for a while, he finally blurted out, "You're not my teacher!"
"I don't want to be your teacher either."
Kuina turned around and assumed a fighting stance again.
"Again."
Outside the backyard wall, the other teenagers who were perched on the wall watching were laughing so hard they were bent over.
Zoro fought Kuina over two thousand times in this dojo, losing over two thousand times. Every time he was beaten, he would stubbornly insist on it, only to be beaten again next time.
In the reception room, Roy put down his teacup, his smile already wide open.
He stood up from the prayer mat, dusted off non-existent dust from his robes, and turned to look at Koshiro with an expression that was utterly innocent.
"Master Koshiro, would you mind if I went to watch the children practice swordsmanship?"
Koshiro's hand holding the teacup tightened suddenly, the rim of the cup remaining motionless at his fingertips for two seconds.
Looking at Roy's smiling face, a voice inside him screamed wildly—"I mind, of course I mind, I mind to death!"
But the words that came out of his mouth turned into something else:
"Please feel free to do as you please."
Roy smiled and waved his hand, then walked towards the backyard of the dojo.
Ryu watched Roy's figure disappear at the end of the porch, then glanced at Koshiro's face, which was barely able to maintain a smile, and silently took a sip of tea.
never mind.
Anyway, Roy may act recklessly, but he still has some bottom lines.
They probably wouldn't lay a hand on the children.
In the backyard, Zoro had just gotten up from the ground, picked up his wooden sword again, and assumed a fairly standard starting stance.
His gaze was more resolute than before, and his arms were trembling slightly—not from fear, but from the resentment accumulated from thousands of failures.
But before this resentment could erupt, it was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice:
"Kid, your starting stance is hilarious!"
Zoro turned his head sharply and saw a man he had never seen before leaning against the door frame of the dojo's backyard, looking extremely lazy.
Hands in pockets, a faint smile playing on his lips.
His expression was as if he were watching a rather interesting circus.
"Who are you?!"